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Ordiquhill

Location of Ordiquhill Parish

See the Maps Section below for links to a fully-detailed version of this location plan.

"Ordiquhill is of Gaelic original, and signifies, the 'hollow beside the height.' The Earl of Findlater is patron; and though he has not a foot of ground in the parish, pays most of the stipend. The parish is of an oblong form, being near 4 miles in length, from N. to S. and about 3 in breadth. It was formerly a chapelry in the parish of Fordyce, where public worship was performed once a month; and seems to have been erected into a separate parish, about the year 1622. The church, which was built about the same time, on the spot where then stood St. Mary's chapel, is, at present, in bad repair; as is also the mance and office houses. The stipend, including the glebe, which here is not worth much, is about L. 70 sterling yearly - Previous to the augmentation, which took place in 1766, it was one of the smallest stipends in Scotland, being in all not above L. 30 sterling per annum. - The schoolmaster's salary is 8 bolls of meal, L. 1 5 as session clerk; and, the profits arising from baptisms and marriages, and from about 40 scholars." From The Statistical Account for Scotland, 1791-1799 Volume XVI, Banffshire, Moray & Nairnshire.

Cemeteries

Unpublished MIs for this parish are held by Aberdeen & N.E. Scotland F.H.S. and members may request lookups.

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Census

Aberdeen And North-East Scotland FHS (ANESFHS) have published a name Index to the 1851 Census for Banffshire. Ordiquhill (together with Banff and Boyndie) is published as code AA213.

ANESFHS also hold unpublished indexes and transcriptions of the 1861 Census for most Banffshire parishes (including Ordiquhill).

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Church Records

Free Kirk
The following registers of the Ordiquhill congregation are held at the National Archives of Scotland with the catalogue numbers shown:
Kirk Session Records

Kirk Session records generally include records of Discipline, which often include information on illegitimate births, and Accounts, which may mention persons on Poor Relief. The surviving Ordiquhill Kirk Session records are listed on a separate webpage.

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Description and Travel

A transcript of Parish of Ordiquhill (Presbytery of Fordyce, Synod of Aberdeen, County of Banff.) by the Rev. Mr. Robert Ogilvie.

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Maps

There is a wide range of maps available for Ordiquhill, historical and modern, on paper and online. Many ancient placenames continue in use, and will therefore appear on modern maps, but as parishes ceased to be of any significance for Local Government in Scotland in 1976, parish boundaries will be found only on historical maps.

Maps on Paper
Maps Online

You can view a comprehensive Gazetteer list for Ordiquhill including placenames culled from the Ordnance Survey "Explorer" (1:25000) map, the 1896 Ordnance Survey 1" map, the 1841, 1851 and 1861 Census and Thomson's "Atlas of Scotland" (1832).

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Names, Geographical

You can view a comprehensive Gazetteer list for Ordiquhill including placenames culled from the Ordnance Survey "Explorer" (1:25000) map, the 1896 Ordnance Survey 1" map, the 1841, 1851 and 1861 Census and Thomson's "Atlas of Scotland" (1832).

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Poorhouses, Poor Law etc

Under the "Poor Law Amendment Act, Scotland" (1845) responsibility for Poor Relief was taken from the Parishes of the Kirk of Scotland, and vested in new Parochial Boards, whose territories largely coincided with the old parishes. The Parochial Boards were not (as in England) grouped into Poor Law Unions, and there were few Poorhouses outside the cities and large towns.

Day-to-day administration of the Poor Law was in the hands of the Inspector of the Poor for each parish, and these Inspectors were obliged by law to maintain detailed records of applications and of relief supplied. The most valuable of these are the "Record of Applications" and the "General Register of the Poor". The "Minutes" are very variable, but on occasion can also contain information on named individuals.

The following Poor Law records have survived for the Parish of Ordiquhill:

These are held by Aberdeen City Archives. The records are available for viewing, subject to the 100-year rule.
Items marked * are included in a name index compiled by Aberdeen And North-East Scotland FHS (ANESFHS), and held by both ANESFHS and Aberdeen City Archives.

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Population

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[Last updated: 30 Jan 2006, Gavin Bell]

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